I’m normally a glass half full kind of guy But in a week where Lehman Brothers goes bankrupt, stock markets around the world fall in tandem, and one of the world’s largest insurers (and yes, that means travel insurance) is on the ropes, there are plenty of good reasons to turn off the news and get lost. I have an overriding urge to just move some place nobody has ever heard of and spend my days sipping coffee while watching the breeze rustle the trees on the mountains. Here’s more bad news to spoil your week.
Bolivia is a mess. The country has expelled its U.S. ambassador and arrested one of its governors for opposing the government. Six provinces have declared independence from the central government. You might want to stay on the other side of Lake Titicaca. The Peace Corps already left for Peru and American Airlines suspended its flights to La Paz.
Thailand is a mess. Did you hear the one about the Asian prime minister who replaced the exiled prime minister after a bunch of riots, then violated the constitution by appearing on a cooking show? Well, now he’s out and the government thought it would be a swell idea for the replacement to be his brother in law. Unfortunately, this is not a bad joke, but just this week’s headlines from Thailand.
One beer at Oktoberfest in Munich will cost you 8.13 euros this year , or around $11.50. Sure, they’re big beers, but still…
The UK’s 3rd-largest travel tour company went under. Some 100,000 Brits were stranded around the world as the government scrambled to get everyone onto alternate flights—at the cost of some 42 million pounds sterling. Another 200,000 people have bookings that are probably now worthless since XL owes lots of lenders millions of euros .
Continental Airlines now sucks too. They have joined the other legacy US airlines in the cesspool, charging $15 to charge one bag. What a cluster#@*& this is going to be on those small commuter jets with three seats across—the only kind that fly out of my airport on Continental. Now everyone is wondering, is Delta next? Or will they make it a competitive advantage to avoid this fee, as Southwest has so expertly done in print and TV commercials? Strange that Continental chose this path as they were previously viewed as being a better quality carrier than the others. And a barrel of oil is down 50% from when American started this silliness.
Don’t expect a fuel surcharge break. Speaking of fees, most of them are probably not going away . As this travel agent notes, one of the key reasons for extra fees is that they are pure profit for the airlines. No need to pay anyone a commission. Fortunately only the really scummy ones are tacking on all these fees on international flights (and by scummy I mean United and USAir), but if all this contempt for the customer irritates you and you need to fly within the U.S., give your business to the carriers who aren’t out to screw you. After good guys Southwest, you’re generally better off with Delta, Midwest, Virgin America, and JetBlue than the others. Take one of those in a heartbeat if the fares are close. Here’s a fees post with a link to the full rundown .
Another reason not to take a cruise: those who parked and departed from Galveston have been told all the cars parked at the port are now ruined.
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